Bollywood movies from a Non-Indian perspective

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Tag Archives: Diana Penty

I know I shouldn’t talk this way, being a woman and all. But I just can’t help myself. Yesterday I went to see Cocktail, the new movie produced by and starring Saif Ali Khan and Wonder-Women Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty. All eyes were naturally on Penty, who made her Bollywood debut with this movie, an impressive one what’s more, but I couldn’t unglue my eyes from Deepika, who plays Veronica, and who lives life in London’s fast lane camouflaging wounds from the past by acting out as a party queen, as the It-girl.

As Veronica, she is a tortured soul battling loss and abandonment issues and she hides a great deal of vulnerability under her contemporary, sleek fashionista appearance. Audiences and critics were surprised that the hi-five feel-good movie morphed into melodram during the second half. I wasn’t. I thought Deepika’s deeply-layered performance reflected already a storm to come. Not only did I love her character but she made me believe it. Had Deepika been born roughly two millennia back in Greece or Rome they would have worshiped her as the goddess Artemis or respectively, Diana. Or at least she would have personified them in their amphi-theaters.

I was awe-struck when I saw her first in Om Shanti Om (2007) She showed such confidence and poise already in her Bollywood debut. Deepika puts meat into her roles!

Her performances shoot like arrows. Even in roles that show her vulnerability, she never wants to be pitied. And that’s her. She can get angry, like any self-respecting goddess, she can charm you, seduce you, she can get hit by life, abandoned by her lovers, but she will not be submissive. Not Deepika. So I think she OWNED the movie, talking about Cocktail!

Diana Penty shows great promise and a real knack for acting. She is doted with a gracious screen-presence and she reminded me a lot of this beautiful actress in Swades, Gayatri Joshi, who to fans’ dismay got married soon after the movie and vanished from the radar. Diana is exquisite, an elegant creature by all standards, but no match to Deepika whose acting skills keep you magnetized and breathless. Anyway, that’s just my five cents.

She could even pull it off making us believe her infatuation with boytoy Saif, who slowly starts lacking the sex appeal as a romantic hero, hmmm. Hrithik might have been better for that role.. but one thing is for sure, the actors seemed to be all very comfortable with each other, which is a strong point in the movie, the triangle story. Diana Penty though couldn’t pull off the falling in love part… hehe. I didn’t buy it.

I really could relate to the rest of the story.. and I’ve seen more than one cases like these, where friendships are sacrificed for love. One of the hardest lessons to learn in life. Nothing hurts more and I thought that was somehow the more interesting part of the movie. Again I could sympathize with Veronica, her disappointment and rage, pulling out all the stops to reverse the situation with “I’ll be anything you want me to be, just don’t leave me..FOR HER, Hello, my formerly best friend!!”

It also rings true that we might go into a relationship thinking we are in control and it won’t mean much at first, but then we open ourselves up to love, gradually and unnoticeably, and before we know it BANG! it backfires and MrWonderful-oh-so-fullofsh *t moves on to greener pastures. And for some reason they seem to gravitate towards our friends or sisters, as if the world didn’t have millions of other women to choose from…. Out of Laziness? No, absolutely. Good movie. If you just start out in life, it’s an Education :-)

Isn’t she a beauty? Diane Penty, a top model in India, is the newest filmi crossover. Luckily for us, Bollywood has never shied away of giving a pretty woman a chance to shine.

And with the substantial yearly output of Indian films, there must be a tremendous demand to discover new talent. When I started taking the teenage son of my American friend to see Bollywood movies, who had enthusiastically embraced this new cinema experience initially, he started to object after the 10th movie that he was getting tired to see the same faces over and over.

Not that it ever bothered me, I like my intimate little Bollywood family, but he had a point. How often can you see the same hero and heroine, film after film in new but similar roles…

It feels good to see fresh faces especially when they are as pretty as Diane’s, who is playing Meera in the upcoming movie Cocktail.

I don’t know if Diana will stick with Bollywood movies. She is probably making more money in advertisement and in fashion. She appears in Maybelline and Garnier commercials. She has been in a Virgin Mobile ad with Ranbir Kapoor. Diana has signed with Elite Model Management where she has worked for prestigious Indian designers, such as Ashish Soni, Sabayasachi, Wendell Rodricks and Rohit Bal. In the USA she has worked with calibers like Neiman Marcus, Forever21 and Nordstrom. Who needs movies with that resume? On the other hand, the gratification of becoming a recognizable face or even superstar must be alluring. It certainly makes the heart pump faster of a great many models waiting to get a chance to appear on the silver screen.

What gives this movie another interesting angle is the director, Homi Adajania. This is only his second movie venture but he has been hailed as being one of the most brilliant directorial newcomers who made his debut with Being Cyrus, an off-beat psychological drama in English language starring Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, and Boman Irani.